Speaking of updates

BEFORE YOU READ:
Hey, you're in my blog... How the hell did that happen? No, seriously, I'm curious. Would you mind leaving a comment to let me know how you got here and, if it's not too much bother, maybe even an opinion on the post itself?
That would be lovely. Thanks.

So I got an email from someone who'd enjoyed the very early alpha I put out a couple of years ago. It was quite unexpected - but heart-warming. It's nice to know the project got even just a little attention.
Just for the record, I'll repeat what i told him: the project is NOT suspended, but it has changed in nature due to the changes in my life (mainly, I got a job and therefore have much less free time).
So, what's this change you're talking about? Well, the game won't be a game. I'm writing it as a proper story now... which is not different from the approach I had in the beginning, I just had to cut out the various routes the characters could take and make them converge all in one storyline; one that is consistent in plot events, character progression and themes. This was not an easy job and took most of the last year. Now, however, I'm more or less done with the planning part ("more or less" because there's always some planning to do) and I'm writing at full speed.
I've no idea when I'll be done. The first draft will take some time, then the second a little less, then the third... who knows, I've never tackled such a big project. What I do know is that I WILL take it to completion.

I realize most people will be put off by this change. I will try to publish the story as a visual novel, with pictures and possibly sounds... but that's in the future. I need to get it done, first.

I do have a lot of time to spend at home, these days, so hopefully the writing will proceed smoothly. Hey, you're staying home, right? Please do. It's the right thing to do, if you don't want your country to end up like us here in Italy.

Almost done, btw

Just an update in case someone stumbles on the blog and thinks the project's dead.
The release is coming. Just waiting on feedback on a couple of things.

"Fingers crossed...

...I'll get a lot done". That's what I said in the last post.
Did I? The short answer, thankfully, is yes. At the same time, a lot more could have been done if I hadn't had to spend 4 out of the last 7 weeks babysitting my nieces. And of course kids are amazing and funny and all that, but... you know, they are quite a handful. In that time, I obviously didn't really have many chances to sit down and write.
What I did do, however, is FINALLY finishing the first big chunk of writing. I'm neck-deep in the second draft stage, and things are looking pretty good (there's one scene that at first I thought worked fine, but now... well, it doesn't. So that scene I am basically rewriting from scratch and it's giving me a bit of a headache, but nothing I can't overcome).

Plans for the future:
- work
- update the situation on the Collective forum (up until now it's the only place where I posted the game, since it had so little content; that will change with the next release)
- hoping I'll find someone interested in giving feedback on an early version
- hoping I have some money to finally get another commission done
- work!

And July is ending

Work hasn't stopped - I'm actually quite near an important point in the story. Things are looking good and that means that soon I'll be looking for beta readers (and testers, of course), before I publish this part of the story.
There will be less choices and more stuff to read, in this release. Hopefully it doesn't put people off playing it.
Anyway, I should have a lot of free time in August (Italy pretty much stops working all at once around the 15th XD), so... well, fingers crossed, I'll get a lot done.

A little something

So, these last two months were not great. I had less time than I wished to work on the game, and WAY less money than I wished to pay for more art.
(I'm taking a course that will, presumably, help me find a job in the near future. Which does mean more money, but also even less time... but hey, we don't live on hobbies alone, I guess)
I do write something every day, be it the story proper or some "sketches" to clarify where the story is going. I still want the next release to have some meat to it, but I think I'll cut it down to only Missandei's part.
The player will have two paths to go down. Roughly speaking, one will be a "positive reinforcement" route, the other a "negative reinforcement" route. You will make this choice soon after the first day. Ideally, I'd love to have the player's single choices influence the outcome of the training, rather than one big choice at the beginning. So, making X harsh choices throughout the early visits would result in you not being able to go back and rectify them; and the other way around. What stops me? Well, time. It would mean a myriad of tiny little differences, each with its own consequences (and variables in the code). To give you an idea, Missandei's first visit had 24 choices, most of which small, and 51 pages in Word. It just isn't feasible as a one-man job, at least not for the way I work.
But, I want to give you (the one person reading this blog XD) a little taste of what's to come, so I'll share something.
A few months back I was struggling to write the second visit to Missandei. In the game, of course, we see things from Thalys' eyes, but I needed to know what was going on through Missandei's head, so I sat down and wrote it all again from her perspective. It's actually an idea I got from reading a statement by GRRM on how he approached the Meereenese Knot, and I have to say it does work wonders. Now, now, I know copying Martin's writing habits means going down a dangerous path, but what're you gonna do.
I might reuse parts of it for other moments, but it is unlikely to be something you'll see in the game. As such, it's not very polished. It's very close to a first draft, so the writing might not be stellar.
"Okay, why the fuck are you publishing this, then?" Heh, good question.
In this version, you had chosen to break her, changing your mind at the last minute. The text assumes you're making harsh choices throughout this second visit, as well.

MISSANDEI

Footsteps. Each louder than the last, echoing in the hollow corridor outside her cell. They stopped near her door, and then the man was back with her.

Words ran in chaos through her mind, pushing her to cower to the wall, cold and dead behind her.

Gods, please, please, no more.

“You should know the ground rules, slave. When you see your Master, you greet him properly.”

Her terrified stupor broke under his voice. She heard herself answer, a quivering and distant sound.

“Apologies, Master. It is good to see you again.”

“That's better. Make it so I believe you, next time you say it.”

I mean it. I mean it!

But before she could voice her apology, the man raised a hand and muted her.

The words burned in her mouth. Days ago, she sat with the men who decided the fate of this city, and when she spoke, they listened. Now one gesture was all it took for fear to eat her tongue.

In front of her might as well have been Kraznys, and her a young and naïve girl.

“Put those arms down, I want to see you.”

She had been covering herself without knowing it. There had been a time when nakedness hadn't scared her – it was what was expected of her. Now, years after Kraznys had burned, after all her time with Daenerys, her body was her own, and no man had any right over it. And thinking that, she lowered her arms.

“Covering such a beautiful sight it is an insult to the gods, girl. And to me.”

“It won't happen again, Master.”

He sat down.

“What happened here yesterday, girl?”

What...

Had it been a day? Wasn't it still happening? He was taking her still; she felt his presence where he violated her. If that feeling would ever fade, the pain would still be there. It was nothing new for her. She'd fooled herself into thinking time had healed the scar, but this man had sliced it open again with no effort.

The tears tried to come back and she willed them down.

“You... I was...”

What does he want to hear?

“You took me.”

Shame warmed her face.

“Well, yes. I took my pleasure, and in doing so I punished you. As per your own words, you deserved it.”

“So, it should be easy to answer this: why were you punished?”

He said it yesterday. My crimes.

Had she said she deserved it? The whole thing was a haze to her, what had he made her do? She remembered screaming and hitting the floor. Suddenly she was trembling. She didn't want him to do it again.

Answer him. He wants you meek and stupid.

“I misbehaved.”

What came next was an unexpected roaring guffaw. She looked up again, and the man was shaken with laughter. What had she done? Oh gods, what had she done?

“You misbehaved, girl,” he said at last. “You helped tear down an ancient and noble city, then played a hand in the Targaryen's war against Yunkai and Meereen.”

Each sentence fell like a hammer to her ears. There was a chill in the air.

“Gods. What would you call the Doom of Valyria? A bad day?”

“You led to the death of countless Masters – and slaves, for that matter. And the first you betrayed was your Master.”

She remembered the day Drogon had spit live fire on Kraznys. Guilt always came with the memory. She had caught herself reminiscing about that experience more than once with something dangerously close to pleasure, and each time shame had followed. As bad as he was, he was still a man.

She had tried talking about it with Daenerys, but broaching that subject was not easy. Whenever her queen talked of Astapor, her voice was glacial and scary. She couldn't understand. Her answer was something along the lines of “Those are the right feelings”, and going any further, trying to explain what her guilt was about, meant meeting with a wall of incomprehension. Daenerys merely looked at her, like she would a lost lamb.

She knew what she was thinking, of course. She had made the mistake of admitting, once, that her slavery hadn't been as harsh as others', but her queen's reaction had again stopped any more conversation from happening. And yet, if only she had come to understand the shades of grey of this world... it was so different than hers. Would things have turned out differently? Missandei could have shared her knowledge and helped her. She shouldn't have been scared to bring it up. But Dany had been so cold, so cold.

“You are guilty of a thousand and more crimes. According to law and logic, you should be in Daznak's Pit, dancing with a lion.”

He was looking at her sternly, knowing the weight of his words. It was obvious, but she hadn't realized it until he'd said it. Had it been Kraznys, she would have been skinned and fed to the Unsullied. No words, no appeal. No whip. Master Kraznys got straight to the point, and had done this to many a slave who disobeyed.

But she was here. The shadowy pain in her sex was proof enough of that.

“You spared me?”

“When a dog bites you, you discipline it. It will hurt, and next time the dog will remember the pain. But dogs are useful, are they not? Killing it would put an end to its usefulness.”

“So that's why I did what I did. Death is a foolish punishment. There is a lesson to be learnt, girl, and I believe you can learn it.”

The only dogs in Astapor were the Unsullied's. They were given to them as pups by the Good Masters... and after a year, the Unsullied smothered them. Dogs did indeed not survive long, in her former home.

There was silence, now – he wanted her to respond. She glimpsed at his face, but read nothing. What would Kraznys want to hear?

No. This man is not Kraznys.

According to Daenerys, men are similar, if not all the same. So, what would Kraznys want to hear?

“This one will not forget your mercy, Master.”

Daenerys was right.

“You speak well, girl. It will be some time before I believe your words, but the attitude is right and should be rewarded. You must be hungry.”

A small chunk of hard bread. Her mouth was watering at the mere mention of food, but seeing that precious bread, big enough for a few bites, made her stomach growl. Of course it was some leftover. Mayhaps dogs had had at it before her.

And that's what I am, to him. A dog to be disciplined.

But that was not to be said. The bitterness was wiped away by the first bite; the stale bread like honey in her mouth. She thanked him, and found she actually meant it.

While she ate he stood watching her, but she didn't mind. She only stopped when the door opened again.

A balding, towering man entered, giving a distracted greeting to her master, then running his eyes all over her. She felt warmth creep up to her face, shame coming back. She was meat, to them.

“Girl, you shall pay this man the same respect you pay me.”

Her arms got back to cover her chest while she bowed her head and whispered a welcome. His voice cracked at her like a whip.

“What did I tell you about covering your body?”

She rushed to apologize, but neither of the two men really seemed upset. The glances of the new one – Ayquo – accompanied the last bites. He seemed to try and look away, and almost shyly steal another look.

The sweetness had gone out of her food. Her stomach was shrinking at the thought of this man doing... something to her. Finding that old wound and tearing it open even wider.

And then her master was leaving.

“Remember our talk. Be a good girl and an even better companion to Ayquo.”

He's leaving me alone with him. Her eyes darted at the other man's crotch, unbidden, then to the floor. Could she take another day like yesterday? Just thinking about it was enough to drive her insane. She would bash her head in against the wall, if only she could. She would ask for mercy... but she wouldn't find any in this man.

No. He would punish me. Grit your teeth and be a good dog.

“This one will not disappoint you, Master.”

His satisfied face made her stomach turn. The bread she'd eaten was a stone in her belly. What would Daenerys say if she saw her?

She should do the same. Bide your time, Khaleesi.

Ayquo was seeing her master to the door.

“We shall talk more tonight, Thalys.”

Thalys.

She looked at him once more as he disappeared behind the door. The scarred face, the black eyes alight with their unsettling fire, the greying, retreating hair. It was like seeing him for the first time, and his features seared themselves in her mind.

She knew his name. Master Thalys.

The door closed.

Daenerys

Here she is, looking at our MC with love in her eyes.
Many thanks to octomush (you can find him here), who draw this first picture.

(yes, I'm still writing)

The next release will come before The Winds of Winter

And with that bold statement out of the way...

There's not actually a whole lot to update you on, so this is an Akabur-style "proof of life post".
I've been writing basically every day, sometimes a lot sometimes not so much, but I have made steady progress and I'm still going strong.
I'm focusing on getting the Missandei side quest done first. I think I might actually release that (Missandei's entire storyline in Act 1) next, instead of waiting to have both hers and Daenerys' parts complete, so as not to let too much time pass before the next update. This might change depending on how fast I finish it.

So, I thought I might share something about the structure of the game. I'm following the three arc structure (well... doesn't every story?), focusing on Daenerys as the main character. This may seem counter-intuitive, as we play from Thalys' perspective, but I see Dany's arc as the most compelling one. She's the one that changes and suffers because of that change, she is the engine of the story: everything starts from her and ends with her. We may not spend as much time with Dany as we do in Thalys' shoes, but she is very much the protagonist.

I plan to have Act 1 focus on the main characters, while introducing other subplots that will shape the story in subsequent updates. It will feature the training of Missandei - if you didn't break her on the first day - and the beginning of Daenerys' own training.
Outside the Great Pyramid, life is slowly starting up again... but how much has changed forever after the Targaryen's meddling? Inside the pyramid, a wounded lion contemplates his life choices and is dying to ask you where whores go. You might surprise him with the right answer. Or with enough wine to stop asking, most likely.

But all that won't write itself, so back to writing for me.

(and hey, if GRRM surprises us with a flash release, I'll be a happy camper. which means I won't be, I know. I mean, he started the month by saying he wouldn't post any more on his blog to focus on "other things", then posted two weeks later talking about wild cards. FUCKING wild cards. seven hells, man. seven hells)